After a 45-minute discussion with residents Monday, the Clearwater Township Board voted, 2-1 to move ahead with the Illsley Ave. road reconstruction project. The project includes safety and sightline improvements at the intersection of 125th Street near the Suconnix State Wildlife Management Area.

 

Last month the board called for a special meeting to either award the contract or scrap the project. The low bid for the project came in at  $194,308, and the board decided not to wait almost a month to make its decision.

 

But residents who attended that meeting spoke against moving ahead with the project because of its high price tag and the fact that the road isn’t used much. Traffic counts showed an average of 91 vehicles a day.

 

Monday, with almost a full room, some spoke in favor and some against the project.

 

Engineer Adam Thiele explained about the sightlines and narrow areas of the existing road. He said the project would improve visibility by cutting back some of the hills and using that material to fill in low spots.

 

“The majority of that road is 20 feet wide or less in some areas. We’re going to be widening it about four feet,” he said.  “There is a lot of farm traffic on the road. You should be able to move over and let the vehicle pass and not run off the road.”

 

But residents felt it was too much money for not much change. Fred Schafer said traffic isn’t an issue.

 

“I drove that road for 45 or 50 years. There’s no reason you have to worry about meeting anybody because nobody hardly uses that road,” he said. “I don’t know why they want to spend even a nickel on that road.”

 

Marie Gohman said she drove out to the area and stayed awhile and never saw another vehicle. She agreed, however, that a few improvements could be made for visibility. But not at such a cost.

 

“Maybe we need to make some corners safe,” she said. “But to take two-thirds of our road money.....”

 

Tim Mol said he doesn’t live in the township but uses the road with his farm machinery up to 400 times  a year. He said his issue isn’t the speed, but the tight hairpin turns where he can’t see other vehicles approaching.

 

“It’s a safety issue,” he said.

 

Township Attorney Mike Couri said it’s common for people not to want to spend money on a road where no one lives. But once it has been identified as a safety issue, the township could be liable.

 

“When you know you have a road that is not a safe road, my advice is if you can get it done at a reasonable price, do it, because you’re going to have to do it at some point in time,” he said.

 

“As soon as you have an accident, you run the risk of being sued over something we knew was a problem but chose not to do anything about it.”

 

Blayne Leuthard said there had to be cheaper alternatives. He said spending $200,000 on two spots was just too much. He felt the board could scale back the project.

 

Supervisor Scott Miller agreed. he said the township could probably cut back some of the hills to improve visibility at a much lower cost.

 

But Supervisor Bill Langenbacher said a big part of the project involves cooperation by the DNR, who has given the township permission to use 15,000 yards of fill on their land at no cost.

 

He said if the board changed the project, the DNR would require a whole new set of engineered plans.

 

Supervisor Dan Mol said planning for the project began in 2013, and the township has put in a lot of time and resources to get to this point.

 

“I know we’re not going to make everybody happy, but there are people that would like to see the project done,” he said.

 

He mentioned  M&M Bus Company that uses the road every day of the school year.

 

“Those are your kids and grandkids on that bus,” he said.

 

John Notsch said he has been against the project for the past year and a half and felt there had to be an alternative to spending over $200,000.

 

“There’s been no accidents there, ever,” he said.

 

After more debate, Langenbacher read a statement he had written about his experience with the project. he aid he has been on the board four just four months, but he wasn’t about to second-guess the decisions made so far. And he believed there was a safety issue on the road.

 

“A good amount of time effort and money has been spent to determine this is a viable project,” he said. “We have engineered plans and specifications designed to reduce safety issues. We have acquired wetland credits. We have negotiated with the DNR and have permission to use 15,000 yards of fill dirt worth $20,000. I think the project should go ahead.”

 

A few people in the crowd felt it should be up to the residents to decide how the money was used. But Supervisor Mol said it was up to the elected officials.

 

“The town board is responsible to make these decisions,” he aid.

 

When a vote was taken, Mol and Langenbacher voted in favor of awarding the bid to New Look Contracting. Miller voted against.

 

The project is expected to begin in May.